Tag: Jim Lauderdale

Americana Music Association award noms 2012

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Yesterday, right here in downtown Los Angeles at the Grammy Museum, the Americana Music Association announced it’s picks for the best artists and albums of the year.

The Sitch was fortunate enough to take it all in from the front row, and boy was it a sight to behold.  Americana legends Jim Lauderdale, Buddy Miller, Shelby Lynne, and Lucinda Willliams all took to the stage for several songs prior to [actor, musician, and recent LA Bluegrass Situation performer] John C Reilly‘s turn at the podium for the nominations.

The full nomination list is below:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Here We Rest – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive – Steve Earle
The Harrow & The Harvest – Gillian Welch
This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark – Various Artists
 
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Gillian Welch
Hayes Carll
Jason Isbell
Justin Townes Earle
 
EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Alabama Shakes
Dawes
Deep Dark Woods
Robert Ellis
 
SONG OF THE YEAR
“Alabama Pines” – Written by Jason Isbell and performed by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
‘Come Around’ – Written and performed by Sarah Jarosz
“I Love” – Written by Tom T. Hall and performed by Patty Griffin
“Waiting on the Sky to Fall” – Written and performed by Steve Earle
 
INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Buddy Miller
Chris Thile
Darrell Scott
Dave Rawlings
 
DUO / GROUP OF THE YEAR
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Civil Wars
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Punch Brothers

Reilly summed it up best…

‘They call this the Americana Awards but really it should be the All the Great Artists Out Right Now Awards.’

-John C Reilly

We here at the Sitch are just thrilled to see so many enormously talented artists and friends on that list, and cannot wait to be at the Awards on September 12 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville!  A big congrats to all the honorees.

Be sure to check out all the nominated artists, and for more info on the Americana Music Association, visit http://americanamusic.org/

AMERICANA MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS 2013

Posted on by Editor

BY Z.N. LUPETIN

Though the ceremony was brief, there was a festive and electric atmosphere in the Clive Davis Theater in LA Live yesterday. AXS TV was filming the proceedings and as usual Jim Lauderdale was the grinning ringleader, joining his long time partner in crime Buddy Miller and their house band in a galloping version of the late George Jones’ “The Race Is On” to open the show. Honoring Mr. Jones was a fitting way to start, as it seems much of the AMA’s main mission is to honor and bring respect to roots, acoustic and folk artists and traditions, not merely hype them.

T-Bone Burnett was in the house in a stylishly funereal black suit and called Americana music our nation’s “greatest cultural export”, with men like Louis Armstrong being our greatest ambassadors imaginable. He was particularly impressed with the newest crop of young musicians making a name for themselves while subtly sampling specific traditions of the last century. He then introduced the skinny-tied, close-harmony experts The Milk Carton Kids who, if you haven’t seen them, really do live up the hype they’ve been accruing on a near constant touring schedule of theaters and festivals. While some may criticize the whispery, choir-boy similarities to early Simon and Garfunkel (think “Wednesday Morning: 3AM”), really they seem to be exemplifying precisely the something-old-and-something-new dynamic that T-Bone was referencing. One can’t help but lean forward in your seat when they play. Plus they are quite funny chaps – noting that since T-Bone Burnett had introduced them on live TV, they must suddenly be famous.

Of course, being famous and overexposed in a main stream sense is not something The AMA community seems all that interested in. Authenticity, skill and artistry rule the roost. As the Milk Carton Kids wrapped up with a deliciously deconstructed version of “Swing Low”, they noted the most important thing about Americana fans is that they cut the bullshit and actually listen. Jed Hilly, executive director of the AMAs followed the lads at the podium, noting that the awards were about showcasing the community as a whole.

Lauderdale and Miller thundered through “Lost The Job Of Loving You” and the Flatt & Scruggs favorite “The Train To Carry My Gal From Town” before introducing the day’s surprise guest – Lisa Marie Presley. She seemed tiny next to the lanky Lauderdale and T-bone as the men backed her on a sad, low-drawled ballad, but her voice was in prime form: soulful, weary, deep. Americana? It’s the shit the masses ignored, Presley remarked, with just a hint of edge in her voice…as if to say: what is their problem anyway?

Next up, Elizabeth Cook brought a bit of her twang and sunshiny humor into the room – plugging her new gospel album while also wondering if someone like her should be doing religious music at all – “I might burst into flames at any moment” she cracked, sending out one of her tunes to Buddha, Allah…whoever! Actually she brings up a good point. If Americana involves the whole spectrum of American song-craft, one must add gospel as perhaps the deepest root of the tree – and the genre maybe most available for evolution and transformation.

After 45 minutes of stories and songs, Presley and Cook got together behind the podium to read the nominations. Among the recurring stand-outs this year were old favorites Emmylou Harris, Richard Thompson and Buddy and Jim but none seemed to get more love than Charleston, SC-based duo Shovels and Rope, who AMA members voted for early and often: tapping them in the Emerging Artist category as well as Song Of The Year, Duo or Group of The Year and Album of The Year for their release “O’ Be Joyful” (Dualtone). It was almost surprising but welcome to see a rare mainstream hit single, “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers also be included. See? There is money in it!

Emerging artists like fellow Oklahomans John Fullbright and JD McPherson, the aforementioned Milk Carton Kids and Shovels and Rope show that the future of the Americana and roots community is in good hands.

For a full list of nominees and more information about the Americana Music Association, visit http://americanamusic.org

ARTIST OF THE MONTH: Jim Lauderdale

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If you’re not familiar with Jim Lauderdale, then consider him the ambassador of Americana.  The ten-time host of the Americana Music Association Awards (which just wrapped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last week) has become the face and voice for the ever-growing genre through his involvement with AMA, his roots satellite radio show with Buddy Miller, and as emcee of Music City Roots, an Americana variety show broadcast live on TV, radio, and online every week.

 
And that doesn’t even touch on his songwriting and performing skills.  Lauderdale has penned hits for the Dixie Chicks, Patty Loveless, George Strait, and Ralph Stanley, and released nineteen of his own albums.  His twentieth, Carolina Moonrise, pairs him with Robert Hunter (The Grateful Dead) and takes him back to his bluegrass roots.

In addition to his long list of other accolades and activities, Jim also happens to be The Sitch’s ARTIST OF THE MONTH, and told us all about his earliest bluegrass aspirations….

BEGINNINGS…

Well I started playing bluegrass banjo when I was 14.  I actually aspired to be a bluegrass musician.  My style is typically in the Scruggs style but I tried the Bill Keith style as well.  Then when I was 17 I started dobro and guitar, and as time went on, I realized I would never be as good a banjo player as my heroes and started putting my focus on rhythm guitar.  Kind of left the banjo behind.

Growing up in North Carolina and South Carolina, there was all sorts of music going on.  When I was 13, I started helping at this college radio station in SC and built up a big collection of albums.  My listening habits became pretty eclectic.  I was a big fan of rock, and soul and R&B and blues. Eventually my dreams led me to just making bluegrass records and being a singer.  After years and years, I wasn’t having any luck with bluegrass but managed to get a country record deal.

Eventually I got the opportunity to write a song for Ralph Stanley, and even got to sit in with Ralph at Merlefest.  That was a real turning point for me… developed the confidence I needed to pursue my love of bluegrass.  Eventually Ralph and I recorded an album together called “I Feel Like Singing Today”.  We even got a Grammy nod for that, and won a Grammy for our second album together “Lost in the Lonesome Pines”.  And after all those years of playing with him I started doing my own solo bluegrass albums.

INFLUENCES…

When I was young, I got to go to the Union Grove Bluegrass Festival in North Carolina, and there were some folks selling albums out of the back of a station wagon, and they were from a little startup label called Sugar Hill Records. That day I bought my first Don Stover album, and Seldom Scene album.  I was already listening to Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Flatt & Scruggs, and The Kentucky Colonels.  There was something in Clarence and Roland White’s albums that I was just mesmerized by.  In high school, I was introduced to Gram Parsons, and was already crazy about George Jones, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard.  Muddy Waters, Son House, and Robert Johnson are the blues players I listened to a lot — they were a big part of my musical upbringing too.

I’m actually – as we speak – in the studio working with my friend Buddy Miller. Buddy and I actually met when we were young and living in New York, playing various bar gigs.  We’ve been friends for a long long time.  Still live really close to each other too and have been wanting to do this for quite a while, so it’s kind of full circle for us.

PLANS… 

Definitely in the world of bluegrass, I plan on putting out as many bluegrass albums as I can for a while – it’s something I always aspired to so the opportunity to do it is something I don’t take for granted.

I actually just hosted the Americana Music Awards and Buddy lead the house band.  The new bluegrass record, Carolina Moonshine, will be out in a few weeks and I’ll be doing sporadic gigs, then playing IBMA conference and Fan Fest here in Nashville.

I have a radio show on WSM in Nashville, but also Buddy and I have a our own show on Sirius/XM which is aptly called “The Buddy and Jim Show”.  It’s pretty eclectic, but it’s focused on roots music.  So far we’ve brought on Lucinda, Emmylou, Tim O’Brien, and a bunch of other greats.  And I also host Music City Roots in Nashville, which streams online live from the Loveless Barn every week.

I’ll just keep doing that and heading to whatever festivals will have me.

Jim Lauderdale‘s new bluegrass album Carolina Moonrise comes out next week.  You can find out more about Jim and his music at www.jimlauderdale.com.

GIVEAWAY: The King of Broken Hearts himself, Jim Lauderdale — LA doc screening

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What better way to wrap up the week than some FREE TICKETS??  This Tuesday, December 11, the face of Americana, JIM LAUDERDALE, will be featured in the new documentary, THE KING OF BROKEN HEARTS.  Additionally, Jim will be holding a Q&A following the Los Angeles premiere of the film.

Want to be there?  Well you’re in luck, because the Sitch is giving away several pairs of tickets to this very special evening at Downtown LA’s GRAMMY MUSEUM.  All you have to do is email [email protected] with your name and contact info before MONDAY, DECEMBER 10 to be eligible.  All winners will be contacted the afternoon of the 10th.

Want to learn more about Jim before the screening?  The Sitch was able to chat to the musical legend a while back when he was featured as our Artist of the Month.

Hope to see you Tuesday!